Illinois Assault Weapon Ban Remains In Effect Amid Appeal: Supreme Court Ruling

WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Supreme Court justices declined to issue an injunction blocking Illinois officials from enforcing the ban on assault-style firearms and large-capacity magazines passed into law following last year's mass shooting in Highland Park.

In an unsigned order with no dissent, the court on Wednesday denied an emergency application for injunction pending appellate review from a national firearm owners advocacy group and a Naperville gun dealer for an injunction pending their ongoing legal challenge to the Protect Illinois Communities Act, which Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed into law in January.

"I’m pleased that the Supreme Court has ruled that the Protect Illinois Communities Act will stand as it continues to make its way through the judicial system," Pritzker said.

"The gun lobby has insisted on every legal maneuver to block this law, refusing to acknowledge that lives will be saved by this important piece of legislation," the governor said in a statement Wednesday. "Despite these challenges, I remain confident that the assault weapons ban will be upheld and will create a safer Illinois for our residents."

The National Association for Gun Rights, a Loveland, Colorado-based nonprofit legal organization, and Robert Bevis, owner of Law Weapons and Supply in Naperville, had asked the Supreme Court to intervene ahead of a ruling on their appeal to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals of U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall's February denial of a preliminary injunction.

“Any action the Supreme Court would have taken at this point would only have been temporary and not on the merits of the case itself," said Hannah Hill, executive director of the association's legal defense arm.

"Clearly, the Supreme Court is watching the issue closely and we look forward to appealing very soon on the merits if the 7th Circuit rules against us — as the signs currently point to,” Hill said in a statement.

The appellate court is due to hear oral arguments on the case on June 29. So far, two federal trial court judges in the Northern District of Illinois — Kendall in the Bevis case and U.S. District Judge Lindsay Jenkins in a challenge from a Chicago AR-15 owner — denied requests for temporary restraining orders blocking enforcement of the gun and magazine ban.

Stephen McGlynn, a trial court judge in the Southern District of Illinois, granted a motion for a preliminary injunction on April 28, but a federal appellate court judge issued a stay on McGlynn's ruling on May 5.

Dudley Brown, president of the National Association for Gun Rights, said he believes the Supreme Court will eventually strike down an assault weapons ban under the standards of New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen.

“Commonly owned weapons are protected by the Second Amendment and banning them has to stop," Brown said. "It will ultimately be decided by the Supreme Court, which will very soon be called upon to enforce their Bruen precedent on a nation full of lower courts determined to ignore both Bruen and the Second Amendment."

According to the group's emergency application to the Supreme Court, the 10 months of Second Amendment litigation since the Bruen decision has shown that the lower courts "did not get the message" and instead ignored the framework established by the ruling and the court's landmark 2008 District of Columbia v. Heller decision.

"Instead of following Heller and Bruen, the district court went off the rails and invented out of whole cloth the 'particularly dangerous weapon' doctrine. Under the district court’s new doctrine, weapons that a court judges to be 'particularly dangerous' are unprotected by the Second Amendment," argued Colorado-based attorney Barry Arrington. "And since the semi-automatic rifles and magazines banned by [Illinois] are, in the district court’s judgment, particularly dangerous, [Bevis and the association] have no right to possess them. But the banned semi-automatic rifles are the second-most popular firearm in the United States, behind only semi-automatic handguns, which Heller held are protected by the Second Amendment. If the district court is correct and the second most popular firearm is not protected by the Second Amendment, this means that Heller is a one-off decision cabined to its facts."

In the state's response, Illinois Solicitor General Jane Elinor Notz said the emergency application failed to meet the heightened standard required for the Supreme Court to intervene.

"Second, applicants have not shown that they have an indisputably clear right to relief because this Court has not addressed the constitutionality of a law similar to the Act, and it is not indisputably clear that they will prevail under Bruen’s two-step test for Second Amendment challenges," Notz argued. "And third, applicants have not shown that critical or exigent circumstances exist. In fact, they have delayed in seeking emergency relief, they have not shown that they will suffer any irreparable harm absent an injunction, and any alleged harm is outweighed by the public interest in keeping the Act in effect."

The pro-gun association is separately suing Highland Park over its municipal assault weapons ban. Highland Park resident Karen Goldman and the association filed their federal challenge against the city just over two months after more than 50 people were shot, seven fatally, at last year's July 4 parade.

State Sen. Julie Morrison (D-Lake Forest), who was riding in the parade when a shooter opened fire at the crowd, issued a statement Wednesday welcoming the Supreme Court's order.

“The decision by the U.S. Supreme Court is a positive step toward further ensuring military-style weapons — designed for war and not for sport — do not decimate our communities," Morrison said. “I remain hopeful that this is a positive sign for the Protect Illinois Communities Act and trust in Attorney General Kwame Raoul to work diligently to defend its constitutionality.”

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